London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · December 16th 04, 12:30 PM posted to uk.railway, uk.transport.london

wrote:
317's south of the river? That's a new one on me.

The trains that usually run that line are class 455's. They are
externally identical to the 317's except 317's are built for
outer-suburban use and have better interiors.

The new train you came across wasn't a desiro but a class 458
'juniper'
unit which believe it or not is already in it's last days of
operation.

Sorry, I'm no good at identifying these trains - I did a Google image
search and picked the ones that looked appropriate. It would be easier
if the darn things had an obvious reference like cars - Astra, Mondeo,
Megane etc written on the side or back.

I think the identifying bit might be the green LED dot matrix indicator
on the side that shows the destination - for what I called a
Desiroanyway. The others are 4 or 8 car multiple units, often with one
of the 4 cars having a lower roof-line and a different body shape. The
seats come up to just below my shoulder-blades, whereas in the
'Desiros', the back comes up to head height or thereabouts.

If the 'Junipers' were used occaisonally on the Waterloo to Reading
Service, with the Orange Dot Matric LED display showing destination on
the front of the train, then I'm not talking about those. The rest of
the questions still stand, 'though.

Regards,

Sid